By
the year 1300, a climate change occurred in Western Europe. This was
caused by advance of polar and alpine glaciers. Viking settlements in
Greenland disappeared and the rains were incessant. People believed
in the return of the flood described in Genesis. Scientists say that
it was a global cooling called the little ice age and which
was to last until 1700.

Today
again, rains are incessant. Greenland is becoming green again as it
was before 1300. It is said that Ice melt and glaciers are reduced.
Media propagate the concept of global warming. Moreover, many
people think that this warming is due to human industry. But before
1300, there was not any human industry.

In
January 2002, the journal Science published the findings of scientists
who had been measuring the West Antarctic ice sheet. Far from melting,
it turns out the ice sheet is growing thicker! About
the same time, the journal Nature published the findings of another
team of scientist: Temperatures in the Antarctic have been getting
colder for the last 30 years!

Another
story: Tiny amounts of DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) kill
disease-carrying insects with no harm to humans, protecting them from
malaria, dengue and typhus. However, in 1972, the world community
banned DDT because it was suspected to kill all the birds. Now environmentalists
are in a panic because malaria is spreading over Africa. Last
year, 80,000 people in Uganda alone died of malaria, half of them children.

These stories show that in this matter we have to speak very carefully.
Ecology deals with the entire cosmological balance and we are far from
having extended knowledge in this field. We should focus rather on:

Everybody
agrees that suffering, in all its physical and psychological forms,
must be banished. This elimination of suffering should include all creatures
that also have the ability to feel pain and pleasure. We can hope that
citizens will become aware of the damage we cause to the animal kingdom.

21-Breeding
farms and slaughter houses

Predatory
behavior is part of the food chain but modern techniques can replace
meat diets with vegetables. Foot and mouth and others diseases
turn out in slaughtering millions of poor animals. More and more enlightened
people abhor these massacres of animals.

Maybe
it is impossible to abolish meat diets right now but we have to take
care of animals. It is not the case in our farms where animals are bred
in inhuman conditions. In Argentina or Brazil, animals herd in
the open air. It would be cheaper for the consumers to import beef from
these countries (see the figures in Globalization module).

We
can lower tariffs, abolish quotas instead of subsidizing cattle breeders
and slaughterhouses in our countries. Seeing the catastrophic results
of their activities (bad care of animals, dangerous nutrition, over
pricing for the consumers) they merit fines instead of subsidies.

22-Wildlife

Wild
animals are going to disappear in many undeveloped countries. We can
hope that some species will survive. In countries, such as Rwanda, where
500,000 people were slaughtered, it seems difficult to explain that
gorillas must be protected!

It
means that the struggle against suffering is a global challenge. It
includes humans first and then animals. It again implies freedom, knowledge
and civilization.

We
still blame Aristotle for having condoned slavery. In the future, we
will be blamed for massacring inoffensive animals .

On
a world scale, between 199O and 1995, we destroyed 500,000 km2 of forests,
i.e. the equivalent of the surface area of France. 3,000,000 km2 could
be deforested between 2000 and 2030 i. e. six times the surface area
of France! At this rate, the rainforests in Latin America, South
East Asia and central Africa will be seriously damaged, with irreversible
consequences.

In
just a few hours, deforestation can cause land to disappear through
tropical storms.

We
must bear in mind that arable land is an organic composite that is probably
unique in the universe. It took millions of years to make this humus.
In a few hours, through deforestation and storms, we destroy something
that is as precious as the air we breathe.

Ecologists
often focus on oil drilling, logging, and new roads, as the cause of
deforestation. We must also add nomadic agriculture, over cattle, and
overall the pressure of population. Poor people in under developed
countries clear the forest to obtain wood in order to cook their food.
They also burn soil on a large scale to increase the fertility of the
land. From a plane, 20,000 feet high, you can usually see the long channel
of fire along the African land just before the beginning of the first
plowing.

In
fact, we have no control over the major threat represented by the deforestation
of billions of hectares each year in the under developed countries.
Democratic countries replant large areas each year. By 2000, the US
, Canada and France had replanted 9000 km2.

It is not enough to compensate deforestation and its consequences
on desertification, water supply and even more seriously on climate
(see global warming)

As
a result of deforestation, the problem of water supply will be
a serious threat in numerous regions. North Africa, the Middle East
and Central Asia are the most exposed.

The
consumption of water supply is divided into: 70% Agricultural, 20%
Industry, 10% drinking water for households. It means that the first
step is to reduce agricultural consumption ( OGM could be useful)

Solutions
exist: Sea water can be transformed in drinking water and the manufacturing
cost is decreasing.

Once
again, UN and dictatorships focus on a problem that could be easily
solved just in using technical progress!

Global
warming is a real threat. Many
people highlight the fight against the emission of gas from developed
countries. In fact all is linked and global warming is partly caused
by massive deforestation in the third world.

61-The
facts

611-Global
ecological system

Energy
from the sun heats the Earth surface. In return, the Earth radiates
energy back into space. Water vapor, (clouds), C02 and others gases
trap some of the outgoing energy and retain heat.

This
is the Greenhouse effect. Look at the next Drawing:

DRAWING
1

Without
this green house effect, the temperature would be 18c under zero and
life would not be possible. Thanks to the green house gases, the Earth
temperature is 15c above zero.

Since
the beginning of time, the green house effect has varied and modified
climate (remember the ice age). The volume of green house gas is determined
by the water vapor (sea evaporation from oceans, clouds) and by the
carbon cycle.

What
is the carbon cycle ? The natural decay of organic material release
about 220 billions tons of carbon every year. A biological process balances
this release of CO2 : CO2 is dissolved in seawater and removed by FORESTS.
Look at the next drawing:

DRAWING
2

large
forests are carbon sinks: Each year hundreds of millions of CO2
are absorbed by oceans, soils and FORESTS.

612-Global
warming

Global
warming is proven by melting glaciers, decreased snow cover, the rise
in sea level because dilatation of water and melting ice cliffs.

Since
the beginning of the industrial revolution scientists have observed
that the atmospheric concentration of CO2 has increased nearly 30%.
This increase is supposed to have enhanced the heat trapping capability
of atmosphere. The Green house effect rises and the planet may be warm.

If
the phenomenon goes on, the temperature could rise to 0.6 C or to 2.5
c in the next fifty years. The global sea level is expected to rise
by a further 15 to 95 cm by the year 2100 because the dilatation of
oceans and the melting of polar ice.

It
is easy to forecast the catastrophic issues: 50 to 70% of the global
human population is living in coastal areas. Moreover a warming climate
will spread plagues such as malaria, and so on.

62-Diagnosis
?

Scientists
say that human activities are increasing the level of C02. The human
activities concerned are:

-The
use of fossil fuel as oil, natural gas, and coal release CO2.
It is the only item, which can be easily measured. It is said the use
of fuel accounts for 80% of the CO2 being added to the atmosphere.

-The
burning of soil by nomadic agriculture in the third world releases
CO2. It is said that it accounts for 20%.

With
satellite pictures, you can see the entire amazon basin covered by smoke
during the burning season each year.

At
this point, people say that the rich countries are mainly guilty because
oil natural gas and coal are the products of the developed countries.

But what about our ecological balance ?

Remember
that carbon is added by human activities but that carbon is absorbed
by large forests.

Nothing
is said about the massive deforestation in the third world.

The
carbon sinks disappear and as a result the level of CO2 is growing!
Look
at the next drawing:

DRAWING
3

The
increase in CO2 is due to larger emissions of gas and the lower absorption
because of deforestation. As there are no calculations about the impact
of the lower absorption, it is not possible to assert that the global
increase is only caused by larger emissions.

63-Kyoto
protocol ?

Many
people support the Kyoto protocol, but we can assume that few people
have read it!

This
protocol is unfair.

If
we look at the figures: the emission of CO2 coming from human industry
amounts to 25 billion tons which are divided as follow:

-USA,
EUROPE, FREE ASIA 48%

-CHINA
AND THIRD WORLD 52%

If
you add the 20% coming from burning vegetation, the part of communist
China and authoritarian countries accounts for 70%.

There
are no figures about the lower absorption of carbon due to massive deforestation.
Since the beginning of the century, how many billions of tons of carbon
have not been absorbed each year because of deforestation ? Without
such figures you cannot prove that the increase in CO2 is only due to
gas emissions.

Despite
this situation, free countries take commitments to reduce their gas
emission by 5.2% during the 2002-2008 period. It means reducing power
plants, the use of energy and growth. It means a rise in unemployment
and a slow down in welfare.

Kyoto
protocol does not fix quantitative commitments for gas emissions and
deforestation caused by other countries !

The
protocol says that there are common but different responsibilities:
Free countries must make all the commitments because they are less populated.
Moreover, emissions of gas follow the level of GDP per capita.

This
protocol is not the right solution. From a technical point of view,
it does not correct anything:

Even
with the implementation of the Kyoto protocol, emission levels of CO2
are still expected to be more than 30% higher in 2010. The economy and
sacrifices made by free countries will be offset by emission increases
from countries that are not bound by emission limitations.

The
kyoto protocol must be negotiated again.

64-Real
solutions ?

First,
there is incomplete scientific knowledge of the causes of global climate
change.

Huge
factors such as change in the sun energy, or cooling effects of volcanic
eruption must be taken into account.

Scientific research must be increased.

Secondly,
the warming trend is proven and we have to take measures.

It
means that a new protocol must be negotiated. It must imply large
commitments of under developed countries which are mainly responsible
for this situation (gas emission + burning soil + deforestation):

-AN
URGENT STOP TO DEFORESTATION.

We
must remember deforestation is irreversible because the humus is destroyed
and prevents any further replanting.

-FAST
REPLANTING IN FREE COUNTRIES.

We
must engage in carbon storage with a big replanting program in our own
territories in order to match the damage. You can quickly reduce emissions
of gas but replanting needs a long term program.

-DEVELOP
NUCLEAR FUSION.

Replanting and reducing deforestation could absorb 12 to 15% of projected
emission. It is not sufficient and we have to find substitutes for the
use of coal and oil. The best way is to develop nuclear fusion on a
fast track even if it costs more than fossil fuel.

Technical
progress is again the only real solution instead of complex and unbalanced
state regulations.

Independently
of the global warming, some people assert that there is an increase
in pollution, congestion in town, noise and so on ,

In
fact, creativity reduces pollution: For example, air pollution
has dramatically decreased in USA, Europe and Japan. On the contrary,
pollution increases quickly in African towns. Once again it's wrong
to say that the riches more pollute than the poor's.

What is more, the Pince Curve shows that as education raises,
people consume more spiritual goods (See "New
growth theory"). This evolution authorizes
a sustainable growth: Material goods use resources and bring
negative externalities such as pollution. On the contrary, spiritual
goods which are mainly made up of ideas, need a few resources and have
only positive externalities.

One
again, it means that the fight again pollution depends on the level
of education.

CONCLUSION

Global
leaders must be concerned about the ecological balance.

We
can protect the animal kingdom and stop deforestation. We must
develop scientific researches and technical progress in order to use
new forms of energy.

Global
leaders must also be vigilant: Like
globalization, ecology is too often used as a machine against free countries.
We
are not guilty because we are developed. Our wealth is the product of
freedom, knowledge and hard work!

Freedom,
creativity and education are the best tools for solving ecological problems.